Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Nader: Obama "talking white"

"There's only one thing different about Barack Obama when it comes to
being a Democratic presidential candidate. He's half African-American,"
Nader said. "Whether that will make any difference, I don't know. I
haven't heard him have a strong crackdown on economic exploitation in
the ghettos. Payday loans, predatory lending, asbestos, lead. What's
keeping him from doing that? Is it because he wants to talk white? He
doesn't want to appear like Jesse Jackson? We'll see all that play out
in the next few months and if he gets elected afterwards."

"I mean, first of all, the number one thing that a black American
politician aspiring to the presidency should be is to candidly describe
the plight of the poor, especially in the inner cities and the rural
areas, and have a very detailed platform about how the poor is going to
be defended by the law, is going to be protected by the law, and is
going to be liberated by the law," Nader said. "Haven't heard a thing."

Lovely. An old white dude is telling a black candidate what he "should" be talking about. In Nader's mind a black politician should always be about talking about
"the ghetto" and "the plight of the poor" as if those are concerns
primarily of blacks. How paternal of you Ralph. How condescending. How racist.